Bearing capacity of soil is an important factor in designing shallow foundations. It is directly related to foundation dimensions and consequently its performance. The calculations for obtaining the bearing capacity of a soil needs many varying parameters, for example soil type, depth of foundation, unit weight of soil, etc. which makes these calculation very variable–parameter dependent. This paper presents the results of comparison between the theoretical equation stated by Terzaghi and the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) technique to estimate the ultimate bearing capacity of the strip shallow footing on sandy soils. The results show a very good agreement between the theoretical solution and the ANN technique. Results revealed that us

Most of the recent works related to the construction industry in Iraq are focused on investigating the validity of local raw materials as alternatives to the imported materials necessary for some practical applications, especially in thermal and sound insulation. This investigation includes the use of limestone dust as partial substitution of cement in combination with foam agent and silica fume to produce sustainable Lightweight Foam Concrete (LWFC). This study consists of two stages. In the first stage, trial mixes were performed to find the optimum dosage of foam agent. Limestone dust was used as a partial replacement for cement. Chemical analysis and fineness showed great similarity with cement. Many concrete mixes were prepared

Fao region is characterized by weak soft silty clay to clayey silt thick layer which extends to a depth of about 20 m. The construction of some structures on such soils may needs piles. During the installation of driven piles, the soil geotechnical properties are exposed to significant changes result due to shearing under large shear strains. These changes significantly decrease the shear strength of the virgin soil due to the destruction of soil structure caused by remolding. The degradation of shear strength is usually followed by strength regaining which is called “Thixotropy”. In this study, the thixotropic effect on Fao clay was investigated. Many disturbed and undisturbed soil samples were brought from Fao regi

Permanent deformation in asphalt concrete pavements is pervasive distress [1], influenced by various factors such as environmental conditions, traffic loading, and mixture properties. A meticulous investigation into these factors has been conducted, yielding a robust dataset from uniaxial repeated load tests on 108 asphalt concrete samples. Each sample underwent systematic evaluation under varied test temperatures, loading conditions, and mixture properties, ensuring the data’s comprehensiveness and reliability. The materials used, sourced locally, were selected to enhance the study ʼs relevance to pavement constructions in hot climate areas, considering different asphalt cement grades and con- tents to understand material variability ef

This paper introduces an experimental study on the behavior of confined concrete filled aluminum tubular (CFT) column to improve strength design, ductility and durability of concrete composite structures under concentrically loaded in compression to failure. To achieve this: seven column specimens with same concrete diameter 100mm and without steel reinforcement have been examined through experimental testing, which are used to study the effects of the thickness of the aluminum tube encased concrete ( thickness : 0mm, 2mm, 3mm, 4mm and 5mm with same length of column 450mm), length of column (thickness 5mm and length of column 700mm) and durability (thickness 5mm and length of column 450mm) on the structural behavior of &

Drilling fluid properties and formulation play a fundamental role in drilling operations. The Classical water-based muds prepared from only the Syrian clay and water without any additives((Organic and industrial polymers) are generally poor in performance. Moreover, The high quantity of Syrian clay (120 gr / l) used in preparing drilling fluids. It leads to a decrease in the drilling speed and thus an increase in the time required to complete the drilling of the well. As a result, the total cost of drilling the well increased, as a result of an increase in the concentration of the solid part in the drilling fluid. In this context, our study focuses on the investigation of the improvement in drilling mud   Prepa

The aims of this study are to measure the defect rate and analyze the problems of production of ready concrete mixture plant by using Six Sigma methodology which is a business strategy for operations improvement depending basically on the application of its sub-methodology DMAIC improvement cycle and the basic statistical tools where the process sigma level of concrete production in the case study was 2.41 σ.

This study aims to use claystone beds exposed in the Injana Formation (Late Miocene) at Karbala-Najaf plateau, middle of Iraq for the manufacturing of perforated and ordinary bricks. The claystone samples were assessed as an alternative material of the recent sediments, which are preferred to remain as agricultural land. The claystones are sandy mud composing of 29.1 - 39.1% clay, 37.2 - 54.8% silt and 14.1-26.8% sand. They consist of kaolinite, illite, chlorite, palygorskite, and montmorillonite with a lot of quartz, calcite, dolomite, gypsum and feldspar. Claystone samples were characterized by linear shrinkage 0.01 - 0.1%, volume shrinkage 0.1 - 0.9%, bulk density 1.2 - 2.11gm/cm3 (1.68 g / cm3 average), and the efflorescence is

Portland cement concrete is the most commonly used construction material in the world for decades. However, the searches in concrete technology are remaining growing to meet particular properties related to its strength, durability, and sustainability issue. Thus, several types of concrete have been developed to enhance concrete performance. Most of the modern concrete types have to contain supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) as a partial replacement of cement. These materials are either by-products of waste such as fly ash, slag, rice husk ash, and silica fume or from a geological resource like natural pozzolans and metakaolin (MK). Ideally, the utilization of SCMs will enhance the concrete performance, minimize

      In this work, the gamma-ray shielding parameters of red clay and boron-doped red clay with different sample thicknesses are theoretically and experimentally reported. These shielding parameters are considered at a photon energy of 0.662 MeV emitted from ¹³⁷Cs. The theoretical calculations are demonstrated using the XCom software program, while a scintillation detector, NaI(TI), with an efficiency of 98% is used to attain the experimental results of the mass attenuation coefficient of the prepared samples. The acquired results show that the boron-doped clay delivers a higher mass attenuation coefficient as compared to those of pure clay. Additionally, the mass attenuation coefficient exhibits an increasing behavior w